AU Hires New AD Allen Greene (Updated 1/19/18: Presser Added)

[Auburn2Eugene 2,317]

1 hour ago, Zeek said:

Lower the prices. Problem solved. 

Exactly. If we lowered the ticket prices to make it affordable to buy the tickets, we could easily sell out over 100k. But with the rising cost of season tickets and even selling on a per game basis, more people are more comfortable sitting at home watching the games on 4K TVs. The SEC Network is making it incredibly easy to watch every game in the comfort of your home... for free. Yes, the gameday experience is significantly different. There is nothing like being on campus actually watching the games in person. I want my kids to experience it, but at the cost these days, that's dang near impossible.

[Eagle Eye 7 2,535]

I will almost bet that most people will be happily surprised in the next two years by this young man. He won’t be sitting around worrying about making it to a fat state retirement check, he will be busting his butt to make AU all it can be. Not only will he change the face of the program but I truely belive he will teach players, coaches, staffs and fans how to change our attitudes from expecting calamity to expecting success and put us on top of athletics across the board like AU should always be. Let other universities compare their progress to our achievements as the mark of greatness.

['76 Tiger 108]

I have never met the young man, (When you are over 60, anyone under 55 is "young"), but I am enthusiastic about giving him a chance.   I think the odds are 80% that he will prove to be a superstar and will do wonderful things for Auburn.  I do not ignore the 20% downside chance, but every hire has 20% or more of a down-side.  Let's give the man the chance to prove himself.  WDE!

[The Plainsman 948]

5 hours ago, GwillMac6 said:

womens bball coach for sure. That will come very shortly in to his tenure. 

First hire will be the WBB coach at Buff?  Lol. 

[The Plainsman 948]

2 hours ago, logan adams said:

Fix up JHS please. 

Please please please. 

[CameronCrazy 1,058]

With Gus Malzahn locked in with a seven year contract and most head coaching positions solidified, what do you expect from our new AD? What would grab your attention and convince you that we made the right hire? For me, it’s the following...

1. Renovate Jordan-Hare - finally finish this project and take it to another level. Put us on the level of the SEC elite in terms of stadium aesthetics, seating, locker rooms, concession stands, get rid of high school scoreboard, etc...

2. Build Football facility - I’m talking state of the art facility that will take us to another level in recruiting

3. Bring back David Marsh - we need to get back to winning Championships in swimming.

4. Bring closure to our basketball program - resolve the NCAA issue and get Wiley & Purifoy eligible next year. In addition, we have crippled ourselves for too long with voluntary punishments in regards to AAU basketball in Alabama. Let Bruce Pearl coach and recruit with a full deck of cards. Get McGlynn out of the way!

[auburnphan 6,050]

REMOVE THE LEACHES

[Zeek 16,614]

8 hours ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

Exactly. If we lowered the ticket prices to make it affordable to buy the tickets, we could easily sell out over 100k. But with the rising cost of season tickets and even selling on a per game basis, more people are more comfortable sitting at home watching the games on 4K TVs. The SEC Network is making it incredibly easy to watch every game in the comfort of your home... for free. Yes, the gameday experience is significantly different. There is nothing like being on campus actually watching the games in person. I want my kids to experience it, but at the cost these days, that's dang near impossible.

Exactly, my wife and I are reaches that love around 5-6 hours away. It's just not possible for us to come more than once a year. Used to have season tickets we'd save up for and then stay with friends but we've been out priced.

[gr82be 14,401]

As stated before in multiple threads he needs to do all get can to move the Georgia game to October. 

[AU-24 3,063]

21 hours ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Wrong here. Been a huge problem the last two years. We are lacking about 400M or more to upgrade mostly the football facilities. People stopped giving Jay money  two years ago. Many think Greene will fix this. 

 If Green is being brought in for fundraising; there are many AD’s, from more prominent  schools, much higher qualified and way more experienced at fundraising, than this guy.

[AU64 10,122]

16 minutes ago, AU-24 said:

 If Green is being brought in for fundraising; there are many AD’s, from more prominent  schools, much higher qualified and way more experienced at fundraising, than this guy.

With only 2 years AD experience I guess there is the need to cite some of his best attributes which probably includes fundraising.  JMO but his most relevant experience is the time at Ole Miss. He knows what the conference issues are which is helpful.

[AU-24 3,063]

36 minutes ago, AU64 said:

With only 2 years AD experience I guess there is the need to cite some of his best attributes which probably includes fundraising.  JMO but his most relevant experience is the time at Ole Miss. He knows what the conference issues are which is helpful.

Football team - Top 10

Basketball team - Top 20

Gymnastics team - Top 20

Softball - Top 5

Swiming and Diving - Top 10 or 20

Why can’t we get an AD with years of experience as a great fundraiser? The answer is we can, so why don’t we?

It would be a different story if this guy had 5 or so years experience with Buffalo, then another 5 or so with a NC State or an Iowa, all proving to be  top notch AD and fundraiser! 

Obviously this is not the case. Done deal now so another AD;  needing OJT.

 

[AU64 10,122]

32 minutes ago, AU-24 said:

Football team - Top 10

Basketball team - Top 20

Gymnastics team - Top 20

Softball - Top 5

Swiming and Diving - Top 10 or 20

Why can’t we get an AD with years of experience as a great fundraiser? The answer is we can, so why don’t we?

It would be a different story if this guy had 5 or so years experience with Buffalo, then another 5 or so with a NC State or an Iowa, all proving to be  top notch AD and fundraiser! 

Obviously this is not the case. Done deal now so another AD;  needing OJT.

 

You answered your own question but you may not have the right answer.

ADs don't float around like coaches and guys at successful programs stay there until they run into problems...like at Arky, or Lousiville or Texas.....so if you get an experienced person you are likely to get a guy with bad experiences also ('cause all of them make bad coaching hires).   

In this case the only thing anyone can complain about is his inexperience....and not the fact that he made some bad hires at his previous school because in my view, no matter what experienced guy we hired, folks would be picking his career apart.    OJT or whatever....there is not much to pick at with Greene and thus people might accept him with an open mind and see how he performs rather than prejudging him based on where he came from.    Just sayin' 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Just because Malzahn has a new seven year contract, doesn't he'll be around all seven years. 2 or 3 more 8-5 records will take care of those years. Mark it down. We'll have more 8-5 records.

[keesler 5,923]

2 hours ago, AU-24 said:

Football team - Top 10

Basketball team - Top 20

Gymnastics team - Top 20

Softball - Top 5

Swiming and Diving - Top 10 or 20

Why can’t we get an AD with years of experience as a great fundraiser? The answer is we can, so why don’t we?

It would be a different story if this guy had 5 or so years experience with Buffalo, then another 5 or so with a NC State or an Iowa, all proving to be  top notch AD and fundraiser! 

Obviously this is not the case. Done deal now so another AD;  needing OJT.

 

For the record - I am super excited about this hire.  Auburn desperately needed a new Athletic Director, if they got one with zero Auburn ties then that's even better in my book.

To somewhat provide a possible explanation to your questions above.  Do you think that maybe some of the targets/candidates Auburn had in their sights may have taken a quick glance at our Athletic Department over the last 24 months and that it may have played a part in their decisions to take the job if offered?

Let's see what a candidate would've found in a quick google search in past 24 months:

1)  Baseball - Sonny Golloway's situation where he was set-up by the AD resultign in his termination "with cause" only to be cleared later by the NCAA >> lead to a lawsuit

2) Softball -  Allegations of sexual misconduct leading to Title IX case and the eventual "resignation" of two coaches who wanted to spend more time with their family.   (Resignation my ass)

3) Track/Field - Allegations from a former staffer of racial discrimination and physical attack from the coaching staff

4) Basketball - FBI investigation resulting in the Asst HC nailed with criminal charges and two players on suspension - where AU reported recruiting violations for one player who can't see the court for a year.

5) Football - Allegations that some football tutor cheated for a player

Now before someone (lionheartkc) jumps in here to difuse my post, I am firmly aware that MANY of these issues have been settled, resolved and are no longer a serious issue within the Athletice Department. 

BUT, our new President stepped into a pile of cow s#it when he got here.  It was so widespread all over AU athletics and so bad that he had to bring in Lightfoot/Franklin to conduct an internal investigation (paid them millions) just so he could get a clear, honest overall picture of the entire Athletic Dept.

This Athletic Department has been mismanaged to the point that it's shocking when you see that 5 (FIVE) seperate programs were pegged with something nefarious, illicit, and down right criminal in a 18-24 month period.

It's not easy to paint a pretty picture and try to sell "The Loveliest Village on the Plains" to a top notch AD who's well seasoned/experienced when there's still a ripe compost pile out back stinking up the yard.

 

 

[bigbird 60,368]

Fix this

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Thanks for the call out.  I'm touched. I'm not going to difuse your post. You are totally right, from the outside it probably does look like a bit of a hornet's nest, and, let's be honest, if the candidates know anything about SEC football, they also know that they have to deal with a bunch of crap that isn't in the public eye on top of what is.

20 minutes ago, keesler said:

Softball -  Allegations of sexual misconduct leading to Title IX case and the eventual "resignation" of two coaches who wanted to spend more time with their family.   (Resignation my ass)

I do want to state, for the record, the first was not a resignation, the second was, because he was not happy about the terms of the first (banned from campus). I hate to see speculation continue about Coach Meyer's character just because his son is an idiot.

Also, I'll add that I am super excited about this hire, too, and not ready to believe that he just didn't win the job outright over the other, more experienced candidates that some people seem to think would have been a better hire. I'm hoping that, a few years down the road, people are going to be talking about how amazing this hire was and how he is the cream of the AD crop.

[metafour 4,958]

2 hours ago, AU-24 said:

Why can’t we get an AD with years of experience as a great fundraiser? The answer is we can, so why don’t we?

It would be a different story if this guy had 5 or so years experience with Buffalo, then another 5 or so with a NC State or an Iowa, all proving to be  top notch AD and fundraiser!

You can either do the job or you can't.  I don't understand your concern, this guy has spent more than enough time in the field to grasp what the job requires.  If you look at the most data and analytic driven sport (baseball) you will see a constant stream of teams promoting younger and younger executives to leadership positions.  Just a year or so ago the Minnesota Twins hired then ~33 year old Derek Falvey to be their Team President (the highest position in an organization, even above the General Manager).  The Blue Jays hired a 28 year old to head their Amateur Scouting department (Steve Sanders).

This man is 41 years old, he isn't 21 years old. 

[AuburnTiger4Life 2,225]

Watching some of his presser. And I actually really like this guy 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

Just now, AuburnTiger4Life said:

Watching some of his presser. And I actually really like this guy 

He's very, very charismatic.  Gives a lot of well reasoned, smart answers too.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

22 minutes ago, metafour said:

You can either do the job or you can't.  I don't understand your concern, this guy has spent more than enough time in the field to grasp what the job requires.  If you look at the most data and analytic driven sport (baseball) you will see a constant stream of teams promoting younger and younger executives to leadership positions.  Just a year or so ago the Minnesota Twins hired then ~33 year old Derek Falvey to be their Team President (the highest position in an organization, even above the General Manager).  The Blue Jays hired a 28 year old to head their Amateur Scouting department (Steve Sanders).

This man is 41 years old, he isn't 21 years old. 

Liked for both the content and that you weren't rude in your presentation of it. Go Meta.

[AUTigerTime 186]

For those saying that we need to sell out tickets consistently before we expand, here's the data from Auburn's history of our attendance vs every time we have increased capacity. At NO time has "max capacity" for numerous years in a row been a requirement before expanding. If yall had your way, we'd still be sitting at about 40K seats, because "we don't need it".

Bottom line is we are more consistently close to max capacity, than anytime in our history. Just look at the data for yourself.

The green line in the top chart shows stadium expansions over time.

[AU64 10,122]

I guess a school decides what it wants in the way of facilities. 

For example, ND has had 200+ consecutive sellouts which would seem to mean that they should increase seating to 110,000 or so since the demand is probably there.  Yet a number of years ago, the school actually reduced capacity by about 3000 as result of a long range vision for the program. 

JMO but any expansion should pay for itself...which is what could happen with changes in the luxury boxes but just adding general admission seats is probably a big money loser. 

[ClaytonAU 4,606]

How do watch his press conference and not love him already? Seriously guys? 

[WDE_OxPx_2010 5,287]

19 minutes ago, ClaytonAU said:

How do watch his press conference and not love him already? Seriously guys? 

Link? Can't find it